compressed many events into very short sequences
and featured characters who were little more than
a name and a type. Lord DUNSANYused this tech-
nique for many of his large body of short fantasy
tales, including this one, which incorporates a
quest for a magical sword into an encounter with
evil sorcery. The people of Allathurion have been
troubled by unsettling dreams, and a wizard tells
them these are the result of the return of Gaznak
to the world. Gaznak, who is sometimes referred to
as Satan, was traveling the universe on a comet,
but now he is back, dwelling in a fortress so power-
ful that it cannot be breached except by the bearer
of Sacnoth, a magic sword. Unfortunately, Sacnoth
has not yet been forged and is, in fact, a portion of
the spine of a creature described as a dragon-
crocodile, although the creature’s body is entirely
made of metal.
Leothric is the champion who sets off to ac-
quire Sacnoth, battling for three days and nights
before destroying the dragon-crocodile and se-
curing the materials with which to construct
Sacnoth. He then proceeds to Gaznak’s castle,
whose genesis lay in Dunsany’s own military ser-
vice in Gibraltar. There, in short order, Leothric
and Sacnoth deal with a number of obstacles, in-
cluding locked gates, vampires, a giant spider,
armed retainers, the temptations of magically en-
dowed women, a brace of dragons, and deadly
music before confronting Gaznak, whose warped
dreams are physically manifested while he sleeps.
A protracted sword fight ensues, during which
Leothric finds himself at a disadvantage despite
his magic sword. Gaznak can literally detach his
head from his body and remove it from harm’s
way. Leothric finally triumphs by cutting off the
hand that holds the head. With Gaznak dead,
the castle itself rapidly disintegrates, and peace is
restored to Allathurion.
Dunsany’s short tale economically incorpo-
rates a plot that modern writers would have ex-
panded into at least three lengthy books. The
physical nature of the fortress, though described
only in brief passages, is nevertheless impressively
exotic and awe inspiring. The story itself is a good
example of the transition from fantasy that was pri-
marily written for children to the adult fantasy that
dominates the genre today.
Fowler, Christopher(1953– )
The British writer Christopher Fowler began writ-
ing short fiction in 1986, much of which played
with supernatural themes and situations, although
often with a rational explanation. He very quickly
established himself as a notable new writer with
two collections, City Jitters(1987) and City Jitters
Tw o (1988), as well as his very popular debut
novel, Roofworld(1988). The novel, like most of
Fowler’s fiction, is set in London, but it alternates
between the familiar one and another that exists
among a hidden society of individuals who live ex-
clusively on the rooftops, moving secretly and
conducting their business beneath, or rather
above, the notice of the external world. They
have split effectively into two tribes, roughly cor-
responding to good and evil, although the author
does not make things quite that simple. The
leader of the latter is on a quest to acquire more
than human powers, and the subsequent resolu-
tion of his conflict with the protagonist and the
working out of the various subsidiary plots is com-
pulsively readable.
A third collection of short stories, The Bureau
of Lost Souls,followed in 1989, and then a second
and even more impressive novel, Rune (1990),
which makes use of material first popularized in
“CASTING THE RUNES” (1911) by M. R. JAMES.A
pattern emerges following a series of bizarre acci-
dents. Each of the victims had on his person a slip
of paper inscribed with various mysterious charac-
ters, subsequently identified as runes used as a
curse to bring about the deaths. The protagonist is
an advertising copywriter who realizes that he is
linked to each of the victims and who slowly ac-
cepts the supernatural explanation before discover-
ing who is responsible and why.
Red Bride(1992) links the rise to fame of a
prominent actress to a series of murders, Darkest
Day(1993) is a detective story pitting its protago-
nists against a cult of Satan worshippers who actu-
ally do have some supernatural powers, and Spanky
(1994) involves a deal with the devil. Despite the
fantastic content in these novels, it has become in-
creasingly obvious that Fowler’s inclinations are
tending more and more to nonsupernatural sus-
pense, and most of his recent work has consisted of
mystery novels, although often with bizarre twists.120 Fowler, Christopher